Habitat improvement

Improving habitat is one of the key things that we do. It may involve us leading projects, working in partnership with others, training and supporting others to carry out projects or providing advice and project proposals for others to deliver.

We use a range of tried and tested techniques to improve habitat, and many of these are described in the various WTT publications and videos below.

Does habitat improvement work? Check out the science and evidence in the section below.

The Wild Trout Survival Guide

Paperback book, £10.00. 4th edition 2017

WTT’s must-read book about wild trout conservation and management, It takes a step-by-step approach through aspects of natural river function, man’s influences, good and bad habitat features, then design and implementation of habitat improvement techniques. It’s a terrific, practical read for anyone interested in improving habitat for their trout.

Available to purchase in our shop or by calling the WTT office on 023 9257 0985.

Habitat Management Sheets

These are two page guides to managing habitat and they cover six topics. They are intended for fishing club working parties, landowners and conservation volunteer groups. Individual sheets can be downloaded and printed by clicking the links below.Or order printed copies via our shop.

A 70 minute film feature that follows WTT Vice President and journalist Jon Beer as he visits three very different rivers in England in the company of Wild Trout Trust Conservation Officers Andy Thomas, Tim Jacklin and Paul Gaskell.The film graphically illustrates the challenges of managing river habitat for wild trout, with examples of good and poor habitat and practical demonstrations of habitat improvement. Additional sections of film cover key topics in greater depth, as appendices and expert forums. The rivers featured are the River Meon in Hampshire, Rivers Dove and Manifold in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and the River Don as it flows through the centre of Sheffield.

'How to' videos

The Wild Trout Trust has teamed up with professional film-makers, Fish On, to create a series of short ​‘how to’ videos. The aim is use video to capture the key information that the WTT Conservation Officers pass on to groups during Practical Visits.

These videos are all on our You Tube channel or on this page of our website. They cover the topics listed below.

Gravel Management

Secure Tree Kicker Installation

Tree Management

Log pinning

River Wandle Case Study

Improved Stock Management

Permissions

Safe Working

Risk Assessment.

Habitat Manuals

These are more detailed descriptions of habitat improvement techniques covering chalk streams, upland rivers and urban rivers. They are available to purchase as a CD of high resolution PDFs in our shop or can be downloaded as individual chapters as lower resolution PDF files.

Does habitat restoration work?

Although there is undoubtedly great potential inspiration to be drawn from undertaking habitat restoration projects on your river, is there good reason to believe that habitat restoration can result in direct positive benefits for wild trout populations?

It it seems intuitively likely that replacing lost structural features can restore a river’s viability as a trout stream (or even make it more resilient to impacts such as climate change), what does the available science tell us about the effects of habitat restoration?

The following paper was produced by the WTT’s Paul Gaskell and reviews the efficacy of restoration measures in relation to wild brown trout habitat: